Sausage Ragu, with Polenta

Kudos to Cooking Light for this recipe – REALLY tasty, and fairly easy to make. Total time to cook, about 25 minutes. We just used off the shelf Stop and Shop Italian Sausage links – very tasty, with lots of fennel…. yumm.

Heat, oil in large, high sided skillet. Crumble, and cook until browned, about 6 minutes or so. Stir in pepper. Remove sausage from pan, and remove pan from heat – do NOT wipe out pan. Add onion, carrot and garlic to pan, Cook 7 – 9 minutes until tender ( add a splash of water if needed to help the carrots along), cook until tender. Add sausage mixture, 1/2 cup water, and tomato sauce to pan, cook a couple of minutes .

While sausage is cooking, bring remaining 3 cups water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, and whisk in polenta. Reduce heat, and cook for about 3 minutes until thickened, whisking frequently.